


At Your Center

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Rise of the Guardians Fusion, Bets & Wagers, Cameos, Holidays, M/M, Magic, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Rise of the Guardians (2012) References, SBWildCard3, Seasonal Spirits and Guardians, sterekbingo2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-04-06 07:42:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Derek was never thrilled to hear that a new Guardian was on board, but he's even less thrilled when he actually meets StilesThe guardian of winter is determined, however, to turn Cupid's frown upside down, and make the guardian of love fall for him





	At Your Center

**Author's Note:**

> Wild Card- my last theme of Bingo this year <3 I actually wrote this a long time ago and have been looking for the opportunity to post it as it's part of an art trade that never got completed, and this seemed like a good chance

Everyone knows about the guardians of children

Santa Claus

The Toothfairy

The Easter Bunny

The Sandman

Jack Frost...

And every century or so, a new spirit is asked to come into place and become a guardian

Usually the reason for this is because some sort of world peace is being threatened, but every now and then the reasons are much more... singular

This just so happens to be one of those "singular" reasons, and even stranger, it's the first time that a new guardian has been appointed only a few years after the last one...

"I got 'im!!"

A small gasp rang out as the fluttering of wings surrounded the outside of the bag

"You put him in a SACK?" came a startled female voice

"Well yeah, that's what Malia did to me when it was my turn, trickle down!!"

And THAT was the voice of his kidnapper

"It's only fair," the treacherous voice amended

"Fair to WHO? It doesn't get Malia back, it doesn't serve you, and you probably scared the new guy!" complained another new female voice

"But it was FUN," the kidnapper argued

"You guys... don't you think we should probably get the guy out of the sack...?" reccomended a new male voice

There was a hustle and bustle and a string of quiet curses as the bag was rustled around and suddenly he was turned over on his side and dumped out of the sack, landing on a hard, cold, wooden floor

There was a stilted silence as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking around and swallowing

"THAT'S Cupid?"

That was the second female voice, turning towards it he saw a beautifull woman with wavey ginger hair, in a long black gown and sporting a witch's hat, sitting in the corner and filing her nails

"I thought Cupid was a fat, flying baby..."

That had been the first female voice, when he spun around to look at it he saw a fairy in bright feathers, all colors of blues and greens and purples, with long black hair and a brilliant smile

"Well to be fair we all thought you would be some crazy looking critter with a wand and a poofy dress,"

He snapped his head around, glaring at the kidnapper and slowly standing up

The kidnapper had short, messy brown hair, pale, mole-splotched skin and long limbs, in dark pants and a blue hoodie

"You stuffed me in a sack," he snipped immediately

"Oh hey good he can talk! Sorry about that man, guardian initiation,"

His face creased, frowning and pinching his eyebrows together as he took a step forward

"Guardian?" He spat

"I should explain,"

Spinning on his heel, he stared across at the other male voice he had heard

A guy with tan skin, black hair, a slightly crooked jaw and a beaming smile, in a red sweatshirt and overalls

"I'm Scott, but you probably no me better by my stage name- I'm Santa!" he said with a glow in his eyes, holding his hand out invitingly

The other man didn't respond, still frowning

"And you're Cupid, right?" he asked after a moment

"I prefer Derek," he grumbled out

"Ohhh Derek, tough guy name," his kidnapper teased

"Where am I?" Derek huffed

"In my workshop," Scott replied, reaching out and taking Derek's hand to shake, even though the other man hadn't offered it

"Welcome to guardianship!" cried the faery woman as she jumped into the air

Behind her exploded confetti bombs and streamer guns and all sorts of other decorative fairs

Little elves and what appeared to be yetis started playing in a band and the others started crowding around him

"I don't want to be a guardian!" he snapped, quickly jumping out of the way and brushing away any dirt that may have gotten on his jeans

"Oh, no, dude it's ok, I didn't either at first but it's actually really cool! Kids BELIEVE in you!" the kidnapper exclaimed excitedly

"I don't WANT anyone to believe in me, I WANT to be left alone," he huffed, crossing his arms and shoving his hands higher up the sleeves of his leather jacket

Everything was quiet for a moment before his kidnapper seemed to get an offended look on his face

"You... don't WANT people to believe in you? You.. you WANT to be alone? Are you kidding me?!" he shouted

"Stiles-"

"NO, Scott, what kind of ripe IDIOT wants to be ALONE and FORGOTTEN!?" he screamed, stalking forward and glaring up at Derek with anger flashing in his eyes

Derek resisted the urge to step back, the guy may have been lean and lithe but he was just as tall as Derek was and walked with an air of intimidation dragging behind him

"Stiles, calm down," the faery said quietly

"I don't want to be the guardian of anything, I don't want to be CUPID, I just want to be left alone, to fade away," he insisted, turning and heading for the doors

They opened immediately and Derek stomped out, in search of an open window so he could fly out, he didn't exactly want to disappear in a cloud of hearts and red glitter, he hated that as it was but in front of other people? He'd rather die

"Wait a second, wait a second!" shouted Scott- Santa?- as he ran out to take Derek's arm

The other jerked back immediately, moving his hands behind his back to avoid being touched again

"Derek... dude... hang on a second, why wouldn't you want to be believed in?" he asked, seeming absolutely devastated

"Because I never wanted this, I never wanted this power, I never wanted to be ... **CUPID**..."

Scott stared at him for a moment, looking more sad and hurt than angry, before sighing and running his fingers through his hair

"Come with me,"

"Why?"

"Do you want to get out of here?"

Derek sighed, looking down

He DID want to get out of there...

With reluctance he followed Scott down a crowded hallway, trying to ignore the goings-on around him from the yetis to the elves to the ... tons and tons of Christmas cheer....

_Ugh_

"Sit down," Scott suggested, shutting the door behind him right as Derek walked in

The other man frowned at him, looking around the cluttered office and sighing as he brushed a few random folders off of a chair, they looked like toy designs from the front covers...

"Derek, what do you see when you look at me?"

"Someone who looks NOTHING like Santa, where's the beard? The white hair? The beer belly?"

Scott just frowned more and seemed even more offended, crossing his arms self-consciously

"That isn't from BEER, it's from COOKIES, and just so you know, that's all just a disguise I wear when I go out to meet the kids, just like Stiles dyes his hair and Malia turns into a bunny, Kira actually likes keeping her look but- .. that isn't the point, the names, the appearances, all codes and disguises so we can appear larger than life and REALLY make kids believe,"

"Good for you,"

Scott pulled his swirvy chair away from the desk, sitting in front of Derek patiently

"Wat do you see wen you look at me?"

Derek thought for a moment, really taking him in

"A kid? I don't know,"

Scott sighed, reaching behind him and pulling out a Russian nesting doll

"See this? I look pretty intimidating right?" he asked, pointing to the outer cover of the doll

It was an artistic looking painting of him, with a pout on his face and narrowed eyes

"Not really..."

He took off the front shell, revealing a happier looking doll

"And now I'm downright jolly!"

Derek realized that he was being ignored, but since he was used to it he decided to just go with it

"I'm also fearless, strong, caring..." he listed, taking off cover after cover from the dolls and finally plucking a tiny one out of the center, more baby like than the rest and with big glistening brown eyes painted on it

"And at my core...?"

"You're a big-eyed baby...?"

"No no, well.. the eyes! The big eyes! They're full of WONDER, at my core, I'm WONDER incarnated, it's what I was BORN of,"

Derek stared at him with an unimpressed expression, crossing one leg over the other and putting a hand on his boot

"And your point is...?"

"That's what I'm the guardian of, what I'm MADE of, for Kira it's memories, for Malia it's hope, for Lydia it's magic, Stiles... Stiles has fun, you are the guardian of SOMETHING, Derek, you need to figure out wat that something is,"

"No," he argued, standing and shaking his head

"I don't, I already know what I'm a guardian of, what's at my core, but I don't WANT it," he explained, getting up and walking towards the window behind Scott's desk

"I'm sorry I can't help, maybe call up leprechaun or the groundhog or something," he grumbled, jumping out of the window before Scott could stop him

Halfway to the ground he quickly took his jacket off, hissing in pain as a set of large, feathery black wings sprouted from his back and took a gust of wind beneath them, flapping once and preventing him from landing on the ground as he soared back into the sky

He reached into the pocket of his jeans, letting his wings flap as he hovered in the sky and pulling a small bag from his pocket, he gave the bag a jerk and it expanded to twice Derek's size as he slipped the jacket in, pulling off his black tank top and stuffing that inside too before drawing the string on the back tighter and tighter until it was pocket-sized again and he could slip it back into his jeans

With that accomplished he flew away, gliding along the clouds to get as far away from the North Pole as possible

 

~+~

 

"I'm sorry Gar... we just can't.."

"Raven please! Just give me a chance!"

"It isn't you that I'm not giving a chance to, it's me,"

Derek rolled his eyes as he watched the scene playing out below him

"Really? You're going with the 'it's not you it's me' routine?" he grumbled,

"I don't deserve this, I don't deserve good things, I'm just going to screw everything up like I always do... I'm going to screw YOU up like I always do,"

He sighed loudly, peering a little further over the mountain as the girl stepped back away from the boy again

"Raven.... please..."

"No, I don't want to break your heart,"

"You're breaking my heart now, PLEASE Raven..."

"I'm sorry Garfeild," with that she turned, pulling her sweater closer around her as she started into the woods

Derek felt a pang of hurt in his chest as he watched, feeling the heartache on both parts and squirming in discomfort

He new the pain wouldn't fade until it was fixed- such was Cupid's curse, he felt heartache and heart break as strongly as if it were his own

And with a resigned sigh he reached into his bag, pulling out a glistening golden bow and an arrow with a heart-shaped tip

Setting the arrow and pulling the string back, he closed one eye and aimed- he didn't need to miss, that always ended in disaster...

He let the arrow loose, hearing the familiar ping as it made contact and struck the girl's back, pink hearts and glitter flying around from the fading arrow as she stopped fully

"Raven you don't deserve to be alone! You deserve to be loved, you deserve a chance! Let yourself have a chance!"

She turned around, shyly brushing a strand of hair from her face and smiling at the boy

"Maybe... maybe I do deserve a chance... it won't be easy but... but maybe..." she relented

The boy beamed at her, running forward and sharing an intense kiss

"So this is what you do, you don't make people fall in love, you make them ACCEPT that they're already in it,"

Derek narrowed his eyes, glaring up at his kidnapper- Stiles, he had learned, AKA Jack Frost- as he sat down on the mountain next to the Cupid

"Go away," he snapped

"How can you hate what you are? Your core, your center, your POWER... how? And your center is LOVE! I know it is, how can you HATE LOVE?"

"Because love is what killed me!" he snapped, standing up

"How can I hate love? Because I spend my 'life'- this.. this non-ending ETERNITY helping other people fall in love wen I was KILLED because of mine, how can I not be BITTER about that?" he hissed back

Stiles swallowed, his throat becoming tight as he stood and took a step closer

"Derek-"

"No, I just want to be left alone,"

"How could you want that!? Even if you do hate your power, even if you are bitter... do you have any idea how long I spent trying to get people to believe in me!? How could you WANT to be alone and unbelieved in!?"

"Because I'm not YOU! My power doesn't have fun and happiness and playfullness, it HURTS people! I never asked for this, I don't want it! I just want to disappear, I don't want to be remembered or believed in, I just want to disappear!"

"That isn't your choice to make, you can't disappear Derek people need you!"

"No they don't," he breathed, shaking his head and stepping off of the cliff, flying as far away as possible and leaving Stiles alone on the cliff

 

~+~

 

Derek licked his lips, as he watched the couple on the ice

It was a classic scene, one girl teaching the other how to ice skate, hands gently interlocked as one guided the other across the ice

He could feel the first sparks of love beginning to radiate off of them but it was still too soon to fire an arrow, and that wasn't something he ever wanted to do early

Just as they began to let go of eachother, a strong gust of wind blew forward and the ice seemed to get even more slippery, causing the couple to start spinning out of control and one to collapse on top of the other in the snowbank nearby

Derek's head wipped around to see Stiles giggling to himself and watching from a tree across the bank

"What are you doing!?" he hissed

"Showing you that love can be fun," Stiles smirked back, causing Derek to narrow his eyes as he glanced over at the couple, who were laughing and teasing eachother, sharing a gentle kiss

Derek felt a familiar warmth fluttering in his chest- the warmth of true love

With that one simple action Stiles had caused the couple to go from infatuation to truly falling in love

It was... amazing and fascinating and disheartening all at once...

"Don't do things like that," he grumbled

"Why not? I'm helping,"

"You're ruining a delicate process, one wrong move could end in heartache for everyone involved,"

"And one stick in the mud could take forever to make people get over themselves and really fall for eachother, you have to put a little fun in there," Stiles insisted

Derek sighed, leaning back and rubbing his eyes tiredly

"You're never going to leave me alone are you?"

"Not really,"

He groaned, closing his eyes

"Look, tomorrow is Valentine's Day right? Aren't you going to be busy?"

Derek gave a slow nod, leaning his head back

"Busiest day of the year, everyone confessing to people and expecting their affections to be returned, trying to be romantic and having their plans ruined, I have to go clean everything up,"

"So then you probably need some help, why don't I help you?"

"You? Help me?" Derek snorted

"Yeah! Yeah, HELP you, and I'll tell you what in fact, if you still don't want me around by the end of the day, then you'll never have to see me again,"

Derek opened an eye, sitting up a bit straighter

"I promise, if you still don't like me by the end of the day, we guardians will leave you alone,"

Derek smirked slightly, giving a small nod

"Alright... you've got yourself a deal,"

 

~+~

 

"You WHAT?" Lydia shouted in shock

"You GAMBLED our new guardian?" Scott asked, mouth hanging open

"It's no gamble! I'm the guardian of FUN he'll like me by the end of the day, mark my words!"

"I doubt it," Malia snorted, grabbing a paint brush from beside her and leaning back as she started dabbling with color pallets

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Stiles huffed

"It means that you're a ... very acquired taste," Lydia replied slowly

"I can't believe this! What, so NONE of you guys liked me right away?"

"I did!" Kira chirped

"No offense Kira but you like EVERYONE right away," Malia pointed out

"Scotty! Scott, my BEST FREIND, did you not like me at first?"

Scott cringed, looking wildly uncomfortable and turning around to start tinkering with some toy robots

"Well.... you WERE a little bit of a pill at first Stiles... what with the 'I don't want to be a guardian' thing... and trying to break into my shop all the time... and using my yetis to plot against me and turn on all of the animatronics at once one night when I was asleep wich set me back for two weeks,"

Stiles snickered, proud of himself for that one and immediately clearing his throat wen he saw the judgemental looks everyone was giving him

"That wasn't funny at all," he muttered

"Look Stiles just.... be yourself, not too much of yourself, just... don't scare him," Lydia warned

Stiles let out a deep, frustrated groan, shaking his head and grabbing his staff as he headed for the nearest window to jump out of

"You guys are the worst..."

 

~+~

 

"Hey big guy! Morning!"

"Are you always this chipper?" Derek sighed as he glanced over his shoulder at Stiles

"No, but I AM the guardian of fun, I'm not much good if I'm a sourpuss,"

Derek just rolled his eyes, fishing into his bag and pulling out a small pouch

"What are those?"

"A Calling Card," he replied, reaching in and pulling out a heart shaped cookie, holding it out and crushing it into the street

Stiles watched in excitement as a massive flock of doves with red ribbons around their necks came flying towards them, hovering and fluttering and a few landing on Derek

"These are your helpers?" he guessed

Derek gave a slow nod, cooing to one of the birds and raising his finger as the bird flew away, soon after, the rest began to follow

"They find people who need help and send messages back, then I go and use my arrows to take care of it, I make people see and accept their true feelings, no matter what those feelings are,"

"How do you know?" he asked curiously

"Just part of my power, I can see in people's hearts," he explained

Stiles nodded, about to ask ... well... everything, he wanted to know everything

But before he could Derek shrugged off his jacket and tank top and rose into the air, flapping his wings proudly above him

"Come on, I have work to do,"

Stiles didn't have to be told twice and sprung into the air to follow him

He had all day, there was plenty of time to ask

 

~+~

 

"Caleb, I.. I'm flattered, really, but... but I'm not gay,"

"Oh yes you are," Derek snorted, putting his binoculars down and reaching into his bag to grab an arrow

"How do you know? Part of your power?"

"Yep,"

"So you can tell someone's sexuality?"

"Yep,"

"So you know that I'm-"

"Bi? Yep,"

Stiles nodded, watching as Derek pulled back the bow and let the arrow loose, slamming straight into the boy at the restaurant

"And you're...?"

"Pansexual,"

"Oh," he chirped

Derek WAS Cupid, that made sense he supposed

"Come on, we have to get to Canada within the next few seconds,"

"Aren't we in Hawaii?"

"Yep,"

 

~+~

 

"You broke them up?" Stiles frowned, glaring at Derek from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed

"Yep, she wasn't the one for him, she was just going to break his heart, they're much more compatible with Pool Guy and Dog-Walker Girl,"

"I thought your job was to get people together, not break them up," Stiles frowned

"No, my job is to show people their true feelings and get them to accept them and act on them, it isn't like I have a quota to fill, I don't want people to be together who aren't completely and totally in love with eachother,"

Stiles gave a slow nod, staring out the window and smirking slightly

"You said he belongs with the dog walker right?"

"Yes.. but Stiles, don-"

Stiles didn't listen, opening the window and forming a snow bunny collected out of the snow on the windowsill, enchanting it to come to life and sending it down in front of the dog

Sure enough, the dog chased down the snow bunny, pulling his human along with him and causing the dog-walker to run straight into the man across the street

With surprise evident on his face, Derek hurried to pull two arrows from his bag and shot them both at the couple, smiling slightly wen they started laughing with eachother

"Seeeee?" Stiles grinned with a wink

Derek shrugged, looking away shyly

"Thanks," he muttered

"No problem," Stiles smiled back, scooching back on the bed and laying down, staring up at Derek calmly

"You know, I planned to ask you what happened, how you died and became ... what you are, I was going to tell you my story and then ask you to tell me your's, but... that isn't fair to you and I shouldn't do that," he mused

Derek stared down at him in surprise, eyebrows raising

"Really?"

"Yeah, that would've been a pretty mean and skeevy thing to do, I want to know but... not like that, what's way more important is you knowing that someone cares about you, and I don't think my taking an interest in your past is going to prove that to you,"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you care? You barely know me,"

"Well, for one thing, I'm a guardian, I'm a protector of children... and also of other guardians, even if you decide not to join us the man in the moon still wanted you for some reason and that's good enough for me, but there's more to it than that, you're special Derek, and you know, I can see into people too, not like you can, I can't see their feelings, but I can see their light, and I can see YOUR light, I can see how special you are Derek, and you deserve to be loved, I know you don't think you do but... you do,"

He paused, climbing into Derek's lap and wrapping his arms around his neck

"Derek, you are important, what you do ... people NEED that, just think about it, I don't know what happened to you but I know that you were hurt- hurt badly- by someone you loved, but if they hurt you like that then they obviously didn't love you back, by doing this, helping people act on their true feelings, you're preventing that from happening to someone else,"

Derek stared at him in surprise, mouth opening slightly

"I.... I've never thought about it like that before...."

"Well start, you're important Derek, you're NEEDED,"

Derek nodded slowly, inhaling deeply and clutching his chest as a familiar yet ... foreign feeling ran through him

He felt a pang in his heart, like a thump, like a heartbeat...

For the first time in centuries he felt his own heart beat...

He let out a shaking breath, staring at Stiles with uncertainty

"It's ok," he said softly

"I'm not going to hurt you Derek, look into my eyes and tell me if I'm lying,"

Derek shook his head slowly, biting his lip

He wasn't lying... he was telling the truth...

"You deserve to be loved, you deserve to have a chance, just... give yourself a chance,"

He felt another thump and took in a shuddering breath, closing his eyes and giving a nod of consent

The moment he felt Stiles press his lips to his it was like a burst of colors and light and energy burst within him and he took a deep breath

He hadn't felt this good in.... ever... probably

Everything felt amazing and sparked and on fire but.. but a good kind of fire... a fire that made him wrap his arms around Stiles and draw him closer

For once he felt not only passion but... he felt peace too.....

 

**Eleven months later...**

 

"Christmas Eve, the busiest night of the year!"

Stiles glanced over his shoulder at Scott, smiling sheepishly

"For you, ofcourse, Derek and I are just helping, right Derek?"

The other man came forward, giving him a thumb's up and wrapping an arm around Stiles

"Lots of people are going to propose tonight,"

"And tons of folks are expecting a white Christmas in the morning!"

"See you later Scott," Derek said with a wave, following Stiles eagerly out of the workshop and into the air, watching the other male spring up and fly with all sorts of spins and twirls and acrobatics

"Where to first?"

"We have a couple in Maine,"

"Maine get ready for a blizzard!" Stiles grinned, pushing himself a little more as Derek threw a few peices of heart-shaped chocolate into the air, a portal opening for him and Stiles to fly through

"There, down there," he said the moment he saw them, pulling Stiles aside to a nearby roof

They looked down, watching as a man with dark hair dropped down to one nee

"As soon as she says yes, you're on," he smiled, grabbing an arrow from his bag and slipping it against his bow

"Got it," he nodded, grinning as he watched Derek aim, hold it, hold it... and.... fire

The arrow made contact and a shrill "YES!" could be heard ringing through the town

"That's my cue!" Stiles grinned, kissing Derek's cheek and flying downwards, covering the area nearby in snow and grinning as he heard the couple laugh and shreik about how the first snowflakes were falling around them

He jumped higher, blanketing the trees and the woods and flying off to ice over the lake wen he heard the familiar sound of sleigh bells

Taking a quick break, he flew up higher and higher until he saw Santa's sleigh, climbing aboard without a problem

"Scotty! How's Margret coming with that special project?"

"Two more weeks Stiles, I promise, she'll be done with the ring in two more weeks," Scott laughed

"As long as it's done by Valentine's Day," Stiles shrugged back

"It will be, I promise, and I bet Derek will love it!"

"Good, Derek could use a little love in his life," Stiles winked, jumping down from the sleigh with a wave and immediately flying back towards the other man, who was still waiting for him on the roof

Scott smiled, watching over them fondly and leaning back in the sleigh

"Oh don't worry, I think he already has plenty..."


End file.
